The Fifth Guardian
by readandwrite4evernever20
Summary: In the 1880's, the Man in the Moon chose a Fifth Guardian:a human boy who would train under Bunny until it was his time to become a spirit and join them fully. Bunny discovers that his apprentice drowned in a lake saving his sister. Infuriated, he races to the lake and confronts the mysterious winter spirit whom he blames for Jack's death. Is it time for the Fifth Guardian to rise?


Boomerangs whirled past his head and doubled back, grazing his left ear and narrowly missing his right. "What did I do?" Jack shouted over the howling wind, "I haven't done anything! I just woke up here last night!"

The rabbit's face grew steely. "Uh-huh, right. So then you had nothing to do with the boy who died here yesterday? He was my apprentice! He was a good kid, never said a mean word to anybody! He was supposed to be a Guardian one day, do you understand?"

Jack continued to fend off the attacks, but with less conviction than before. _Had_ he had something to do with it? He could freeze things with his staff, he knew. He dropped to the snowy ground, eyes wide and mouth agape in horror. Had he-had he _killed_ someone? "I don't-I didn't-I can't remember anything before last night," he admitted brokenly, eyes losing focus. "But I swear if it was me it was an accident, I would never try to hurt somebody on purpose!"

Bunny holstered his weapons and slowly approached the sobbing teen. He had never seen the kid before, but he was obviously a spirit of some sort, an elemental. Jack had drowned in a frozen lake yesterday afternoon because the ice was too thin. This boy in front of him? Ice was within his jurisdiction. The ice elemental was responsible, at least partly, for the death of the beloved future Guardian.

Goodness, Tooth would be a wreck. They all would, of course, but she in particular had an affinity for the young shepherd that likely would have blossomed into a romance. He winced. How was he going to tell the others? How could he possibly explain that they had lost the fifth Guardian before he was even officially initiated?

Bunny was torn away from his thoughts by the strangled noises the young spirit was making. Sighing, the Guardian of Hope sank into the snowbank next to the kid. "Listen, I'm sorry for attacking you, it's just-no, I was wrong to blame you for it, kid. You can't possibly be held responsible for every frozen lake in the world, and I guess that you wouldn'tve been able to pull him out because you'd just freeze the water, right?" He paused and peered down at the shaking form beside him. The boy was so thin and pale, he looked like a hypothermia patient with no hope of recovery.

Nodding slowly, shakily, the spirit gazed back up at Bunny with innocent blue eyes brimming with tears and guilt. "Wait, he-he fell into the lake?" he choked out.

Bunny nodded grimly. "Yeah. It froze over before I could get here. His sister almost drowned, too, but he was able to push her onto solid ice and she's home now. Poor girl, he meant the world to her."

Jack's eyes grew wide and he averted his gaze. "What was… what was he wearing? When he fell in?" He asked stiffly.

Bunny shrugged. "I don't know, the kid always had these pants that were too big on him," he chuckled wistfully, "he had all these leather straps holding them up. And this cloak, too, it was his father's." He didn't notice the boy fingering the buckles that criss-crossed his legs. "Say, kid, what's your name, anyway? I didn't exactly ask before I started chucking my boomerangs at you."

Jack froze, meeting Bunny's gaze fearfully out of the corner of his eye. "Jack. Jack Frost. The moon told me so."

Bunny went slack-jawed in shock. Could it be that he had been talking to Jack the whole time and didn't know it? The moon… Manny must have saved him and made him immortal. But something the boy said before lingered on the edge of his mind. "Jack… you don't remember, do you? You don't remember anything from before."

Jack closed his eyes and grimaced against the snow that was beginning to buffet the pair. "I'm him, aren't I, " he whispered quietly, more of a statement than a question, "I died in that lake. I'm dead. I'm a ghost, I suppose. I don't even know. I'm not human anymore, that's for sure. That girl, my little sister, she and my parents probably think I'm dead now, which I am. Oh, Lord, what am I going to do?" He opened his eyes and gazed desperately at his former mentor. "What am I going to do?"


End file.
